Individual Basis Strategies

• Meditation

• Walks in nature at least once a week

• Separating yourself from your role on the team

• Understanding failures are not representative of your abilities or self worth, and that they’re natural and part of the process

• Clear your mind before going to bed - read a book or something

• Avoid apologizing for things that you don’t need to apologize for (e.g. sorry, I had to finish an assignment, etc.). This stuff you’re entitled to yourself, and don’t have to apologize to anyone else for.

• Saying it as it is - being clear and honest/upfront about your progress on work

• Be allowed to make mistakes

• Have some reassurance that someone will be there to support with workload

  Would need some kind of system to implement this

• Everyone should respect Sunday Sabbath

• Individuals should have the freedom to schedule days off once in a while

  More on a personal basis

• Begin creating a culture that people are allowed to openly express that they need help

• TT: Stronger emphasis on Midnight Sun social events?

  • CC: We get lots of feedback on socials, but people don’t show up

  • LB: Don’t enjoy social events on zoom with more than 4 or 5 people
    You can’t have proper conversations between people

    • CC: Less intimate for sure

  • CC: A past event: social event where people are split into groups

  • LB: The bar for casually talking to someone and the bar of how well you know someone
    Getting to know someone is a process
    Bar for getting to know someone (befriending someone) is harder to do online
    Huge turnover on the team - how to have a casual conversation with someone

    • KB: Doing 1on1’s can help with that
      In zoom call, one person talks at a time

• KB: Everyone should go Go outside and get fresh breathair

• CC: Regulating exposure to work
  Keeping slack and other items muted unless things are urgent

  • TT: Puts Put away phone during work to not worry about incoming slack messages

• KB: Don’t do work in your bedroom
  Your brain registers your room as one item --- therefore you always feel like work constantly

  • CC: Taking a walk outside before starting to work? Any studies?

  • RV: Don’t eat at your desk, too.

  • MB: Remove phone from room so you don’t get distracted

  • KB M: When finished work, take a walk outside so brain knows work is done

• ML: Student success team run a pen pal program? Random 1:1 connections

  • KB: Similar to Midnight Sun Mentorship Circle

  • ML: Having a connection with a mentor helps ease people into getting to know the rest of the team, e.g. core/leads meeting

  • CC/KB: Opening up convo with peer-to-peer? Some other benefits?

    • KB: concern that one or both people disappear

• KB: Try to send out a survey to figure out who has a fixed mindset and try to make them more aware of it -Become more aware of what a fixed mindset is vs an open mindset - helps how people handle failure and improve mental health

  • KB: Fixed mindset

    • Feel threatened by other people’s success

      • Growth mindset: Talks to the successful person and tries to learn more about them

    • Cares more about what people think about them as opposed to just learning the thing

    • Believe intelligence is fixed

      • Growth mindset: Knowledge is accumulated

  • ML: exhibited some fixed mindset and took failures personally (missing deadlines) - resulted in damaging mental health

  • TT: didn’t realize there was certain vocabulary for mental health
    Realized that it’s a spectrum and someone can lean towards growth mindset while exhibiting few traits of fixed mindset

  • MB: reach out in 1on1’s - people can’t solve a problem unless they understand

    • KB: survey to see how many traits they hit
      If they hit more than ### then send some resources to them to educate and encourage growth mindset

...

• KB: Talk to each other more

  • If you are struggling in any sort of way - someone needs to know

  • CC: How to reach out for help?

    • KB: Being When someone reches out for help, being more receptive - tuning your response

      • E.g. If anything is brought up, acknowledge/respect that they asked or reached out
        “That was a really good question.”
        “Thanks for reaching out.”

  • TT: When should people reach out for help?

    • KB: Always reaching out for help

      • Trying to solve problems on your own and bashing head against wall

      • Always have some other people tied into your project

      • When you feel stuck

      • When you aren’t sure what the next steps are

  • RV: A channel dedicated to this type of communication?

    • RV: Direct message are easier to ignore 

    • KB: Can have opposite effect and assume someone else will reach out

    • CC: Before, we tried to lead by example and post questions openly in the channel

      • MB: Design review scheduling in channels would be good to go
        People reaching out for specific help in direct messages

  CC: How do we want to have social interactions + reaching out for health?
  In the past, going out for coffee
  Right now, it is pandemic
  Was interested in what each person’s personal preferences

  • • • are

  during a pandemic

  • KB: Use zoom and ask the real questions
    Has being a lead been hard?

  • RV: Spontaneous interaction through hopping on discord link during working sessions or playing video games

    • CC: we did this before --- dropped off during midterms

  • CC: scheduled 1 hour meeting to sit down and talk to leads

Improve Time Management Skills

• How to Prioritize and Master Productivity | by Vinita | The Startup | Medium

• Set a specific time range each day that you will do Midnight Sun items and not think about it otherwise

  • E.g. You will set aside 7:00PM - 9:00PM each day to work on Midnight Sun Items. This is an example of setting a personal boundary

    • If you aren’t able to complete your tasks within this time, it is a good indication that you should consider asking for help or sharing your responsibilities

  • This strategy can be applied with days of the week, too.

    • E.g. You will not do Midnight Sun work on Sundays and Fridays

...

Improving Mental Game

• You are not your role.
  You are contributing to Midnight Sun’s project in whatever way you sustainably can.
  It just happens that your responsibilities and commitments can be summarized in terms of a lead title.

• If there is an issue with performance or completion with tasks, it is never your personal fault or responsibility.
  It is completely fine to reach out to other team members to seek better advice and support
  We are a team and we share responsibility as a team.

• You are not responsible for completing the car on your own.
  Never feel like it is on your shoulders to independently grind out the car in a corner by yourself.
  Ask for help or at least make it known that you are having difficulty managing the workload on your own.
  The team will communicate this and work together as a team to find a solution.

• Imposter Syndrome
  You do not need to live up to anyone’s expectations.
  You do not need to live up to your past mech lead.
  You are your own person with your own personal goals and strengths that are all valid.
  You are still a student and still learning. A major part of learning is making mistakes.
  We are all moving towards the right direction as long as we keep trying and asking questions.
  We will all definitely reach a stage of mastery, but all of this inevitably requires time.

• Any decision in the past was made within a given context and its own limitation of knowledge.
  Trust your gut instinct and speak up.
  Trust in your own calculations, judgement, and decision-making.
  We do not need to repeat past patterns especially when they did not yield great results.
  Let us not be afraid to be open-minded and try out new options

• Take your breaks seriously.
  Small decisions add up and impact your mental health.
  Consider how each decision you make in a day might impact your mental health in the long term.

  • E.g. will eating fast food benefit or deteriorate my mental health?
    E.g. will staying up late to finish this task be sustainable in the long term?

• We need to work towards creating a team where members can lean on each other, learn from each other, and work with each other,

  • No arrogancy arrogance or ego about keeping up an image

  • It is just about following the logical steps needed to complete a car and stay healthy

    • Seeking help when needed

    • Setting personal boundaries to maintain health